A new episode of Shunned featuring the Amish, if you're so inclined.......

In this episode I was able to interview Torah Bontrager, a non-practicing Amish that is the founder of the Amish Heritage Foundation. Torah has been on MTV True Life, the Tim Ferriss Blog, Forbes.com, and the Huffington Post. Her desire is to reclaim the narrative and help tell a more accurate Amish story while working to help those that escape the church. With that said, Torah has her own intense story of escape and she’s managed to create a life that she loves on the other side of that escape.

So listen to Torah’s story, learn about Amish culture, and understand more about the experiences of others around you.

I live in south-central Pennsylvania. People (especially tourists) think the Amish are all harmless, warm, gooey, Christian sect. Cute even. It's total bullshit; they are a highly controlling, backwards, money-grubbing CULT. They beat horses, created the "puppy mill" epidemic, treat women like it's the 1400's, and love Pharastical rules and pinching every nickle into a dime. They only go to school till the 8th grade, and discourage any science above the basics and sure as hell don't encourage critical thinking. A recent study showed that child abuse and molestation in their churches is at a staggering 70%!!!!! They attempt to circumvent all "English" (JW term: Worldly) laws as much as they can, but will use them to their advantage when it suits them.

Sound familiar?

They are a total CULT! If they were any more of a cult they'd be Culty McCulty! I loathe them, and refuse to shop at any of their stands or stores in the area.

Yeah, it's sad that people just see them as this quaint little group harkening back to simpler times. The good ol' days, when kids were seen and not heard, beating your kid was okay, and nobody talked about the terrible things that weird uncle was doing. People romanticize the Amish culture. It's not so great.